SEA-WRACK 13 



and instinctively reach for a steering rod, as 

 the sensation is that of a wing slip, consequent 

 upon too slow progress of an aeroplane. 



Among the luggage which I take on board 

 is invariably a large, eight-pronged, iron grap- 

 ple, with a long coil of rope. These the stew- 

 ards eye askance when they place them in my 

 cabin, and hold whispered consultations as to 

 their possible use. It is by no accident or 

 chance that before the third day I have won 

 the attention and a certain amount of interest 

 of the Captain and have obtained permission to 

 put his vessel to a novel use. About the fourth 

 day, from the upper deck or the ship's bow, I 

 begin to see floating patches of seaweed gulf- 

 weed or sargasso as it is called. For the most 

 part this appears as single stems or in small 

 rounded heads, awash with the surface. But 

 as we proceed southward larger masses appear, 

 and then, with my assistant, I get my crude 

 apparatus ready. We fasten one end of the 

 coil of rope to the rail of the lowest open deck 

 forward, and then I mount the rail, securing 

 a good grip with legs and feet. As a cowboy 

 on a fractious horse gathers the loops of his 

 lariat for the throw, so I estimate my distance 





